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Lead investigator jamie magarian. you have wet paint. we know items are moved in the basement. those are all flags that come up. reporter: and days later, the medical examiner would confirm those suspicions. the cause of death was strangulation. ann was a homicide victim. pasquale martin is her uncle. reporter: an accidental death would ve been easier, wouldn t it? of course, it would. but to have somebody rob somebody from you, steal, take, murder, just rip them from the world, you know, hard to fathom, hard to swallow. reporter: now investigators were looking into a murder. they began a deep dive into ann s life. prosecutors steve gagne and jen suhl of the district attorney s office joined the team. they learned that ann cochrane rintala s life could often be grand opera. and her relationships could be complicated. take the thing she had going with a fellow paramedic named mark oleksak. mark oleksak was a very close friend of anamarie. they started as co-workers then beca ....
Said could have been ann s. but it was what cara did with the rags that prosecutors wanted to talk about. that s her vehicle on surveillance video leaving mcdonald s. she decides to get out of her truck in a pouring rainstorm, walk over to the farthest-most trash receptacle at mcdonald s, dispose of three cleaning rags, and drive away. reporter: they also highlighted cara s odd behavior after she saw ann s feet at the bottom of the stairs. cara s a paramedic. this is her wife. what does she do? does she rush down there, oh, my god, ann! are you okay? no. reporter: she raced to the neighbors, prosecutors told jurors. then ran back home with one more job to do. before the paramedics and the police arrive, she makes one final desperate attempt at covering up. she picks up that container of paint. she pours that paint. reporter: but instead of masking the evidence, the prosecutors said, that paint pointed to cara s guilt. ....
Tip that paint over. reporter: other things spoke to the trooper. items on the basement floor with blood under them. the trooper took out a pencil and gingerly lifted a laundry basket. there was blood beneath it. what d that tell you? it tells me that, you know, things in this crime scene were moved before we got here. reporter: police videoed the scene. that night, a shattered cara rintala called family members, breaking the dreadful news. and then she went to the granby police department for an interview. it was almost midnight when detective lieutenant robin whitney hit record, turning the clock back to 8:30 that same morning when ann got home from her overnight shift. we were talking. she made me coffee. reporter: playtime with a noisy brianna followed. then lunch. and after, a request from ann, a paramedic, remember, who was trying to nap before another overnight shift. she s like, can you just go to the mall or whatever. reporter: cara and brianna left the house abo ....